SAN JOSE — Coach Pete DeBoer emphasized that the forward lines and defense pairs the Sharks went with Friday for their first day of training camp are hardly set in stone.

Still, there was some intrigue, namely seeing the longtime shutdown pair of Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Justin Braun practicing in different groups, with Vlasic skating in the morning session and Braun in the afternoon.

Does that mean the two will find themselves with different partners — Vlasic with Erik Karlsson, for instance — in some preseason games and perhaps even on Opening Night on Oct. 3 when the Sharks host the Anaheim Ducks?

Not necessarily, DeBoer said.

“We separated everybody in camp,” he said. “Particularly on defense. That was the plan coming. We wanted to make sure young guys were playing with veteran guys. We wanted to give some young guys looks with veteran guys.

“Our philosophy in camp the last few years was trying to get continuity and get guys used to each other. But I think our group is used to each other now. … There’s no more than that to it.”

DeBoer said he communicated with Karlsson early Friday and said the two-time Norris Trophy winner was hoping to speed up the process of getting a work visa to come to the U.S.

“I don’t know if that means he called Donald Trump personally, trying to get him in,” DeBoer said with a laugh. “But he said he was trying to work on speeding up the immigration (process). I’m sure he’s in a long line here in the United States.”

Who Karlsson, acquired Thursday from the Ottawa Senators, ends up playing with during the preseason — and how he meshes with the team — will be one of the more interesting storylines of training camp.

“The great thing about getting him now as opposed to the trade deadline or with two months left is we have time to figure out how this puzzle fits,” DeBoer said. “There’s no easy answers, but they’re all great options. You’re not trying to fit a poor player up in the lineup, you’ve got world-class defenseman. You just got to see how the puzzle fits.”

“We were good to begin with,” Vlasic said of Karlsson. “Now we’re even better with him in the lineup.”

Brent Burns was paired with Joakim Ryan, Vlasic started out with Tim Heed and Brenden Dillon was with rookie Ryan Merkley.

Perhaps it seems silly to say, but could a Karlsson-Vlasic pairing work, given that Vlasic has been Braun for several years?

“We’ll see. Coach will decide who plays with who,” Vlasic said. “It’ll probably be righty-lefty throughout the d-pairings, so we’ll see what he does.”

THE KARLSSON BUMP: In the first 36 hours after the trade for Karlsson, the Sharks have seen a noticeable bump in ticket sales. Although the team did not provide exact figures, team co-president Jonathan Becher said, “We had a sizeable spike in ticket sales on Thursday, the day the trade was announced. Partial plans and individual games sales were more than two times the previous day. Overall ticket sales are trending ahead of where they were at the same time last year.”
Center Antti Suomela took part in his first full day of practice with the Sharks on Friday when the team opened training camp in San Jose. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)

QUESTIONS DOWN THE MIDDLE: With Chris Tierney now in Ottawa, the Sharks have some questions as to who they’ll use to play center on the third and fourth lines.

Friday, the Sharks had newcomer Antti Suomela playing the middle with Kevin Labanc and Joonas Donskoi on the wings, and Dylan Gambrell centering a line with Barclay Goodrow and Marcus Sorensen.

Nothing is set in stone right now, but the Sharks may not have many other options. One might be to play Tomas Hertl as the third line center, or have Goodrow spend some time as the fourth line center, like he did last season.

“Everyone’s making a big deal out of that right now,” Logan Couture said. “Pete has done a great job throughout his tenure here of finding lines and what works, putting guys in spots that benefit them. Obviously losing Tierns, with the minutes he plays, penalty kill, taking faceoffs, his third line minutes, going out and creating mismatches, it’s going to be tough.

“But I think we’ve got some guys in our system, we can change up the lines a little bit here and there, and the D. I think we’ll be alright.”

HATE TO SEE YOU GO: The Sharks obviously paid a price for Karlsson (perhaps not enough for some Senators fans). The personal side of things, though, was also tough, with two popular members of the team in Tierney and Dylan DeMelo getting sent to the Canadian capital.

“It’s tough,” said Barclay Goodrow, who was roommates with Tierney for the last three years. “We came into the league at the same time, so you build a relationship. But that’s part of the business. You know that coming into it. It’s tough to see him go, but wish him well. He’ll do well in Ottawa.”

INJURY UPDATE: DeBoer said Melker Karlsson — who didn’t practice with either of the top two groups Friday — is dealing with an upper body injury right now, and has been for most of the summer. Karlsson is unable to take contact right now and it is unclear when Karlsson will be able to be a full participant in practice again.

OVER THE AIR: NBC California announced its Sharks broadcast schedule for this season, with the big news being that Jamie Baker will be back to help call games. Last season, Baker took a leave of absence from Sharks broadcasts for personal reasons in November before he returned in January. In February, though, he announced he was stepped away again to focus full time on his personal well-being.

According to NBC California, Baker and Bret Hedican will rotate their work on both television and radio during the 2018-19 season. For select television and radio games, Baker and Hedican will work with Randy Hahn or Dan Rusanowsky as a three-man team.

Curtis Pashelka is the San Jose Sharks reporter for the Bay Area News Group. Prior to covering the Sharks, Curtis served as the high school sports editor for the East Bay. He also worked as a general assignment reporter covering motorsports, golf and college basketball, and as a backup writer on the A's, Giants and Warriors. He started at the organization in 2000 and spent close to eight years covering high school sports.